Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-07-16
TIE MAN IN THE MOON.

Charlie Branson stepped upon the porch
of the farmhouse one balmy evening. He
knew that his father was seated somewhere
among the climbing vines.
Papa, he said, " was just wondering
about the man in the moon OF course
there isn't a man in the moon, but it looks
as if there was. 1t isn't hard to outline a
face in it. What are those blurred spots
which we see? ?"
They are immense barren plains, my
son. At one time they were supposed to
be seas, and the first astronomers gave
them poetical names. such as the Sea of
Tranquility, Sea of Nectar, Ocean of Tenn
pests, etc"
a But how do we know that the dark
spots are plains ~ Charlie asked
e" By the aid of telescopes replied his
father.
But isn't the moon too far away for
that. papa?''
e. The neon is our nearest neighbor.
What is her distance from the earth?"
" Two hundred and thirty-seven thou
sand miles," Charlie said
Well, that is not far, comparatively.
We are ninety-one millions of miles, while
Mel tune is nearly three bill ions of miles
from the sun, taking one hundred and
siXty-four years to make one revolution
that constitutes its year"
Goodness me"' cried Charlie "People
must live to be very old here
gave you those iigues to show what L
mean when ] said that we are compare
lively near the moon. If we could get there
by means of steam it would require little
less than two years travelling at a high rate
of speed"
" But, papa, mus. not the telescopes be
very strong to enable us to distinguish OBJ
iects in the moon ?"
a Yes, my son; and inventive genius has
been equal to the necessity. Opticians have
succeeded in manufacturing lenses which
magnify fifty million times. The Lord
Ross telescope has six-foot opening and is
55 feet long. 1t is walled in, resembling
section of a fertilization, and weighs more
than 1900 pounds
"Over seven tons! ~ exclaimed Charles.
'' 1t is so strong that it would detect
herd of buffaloes or troops marching
in the order of battle. There are inn
mense mountains in the moon shattered
by volcanic fires, the craters gaping close
to each other, the one belonging
to the volcano of Aristillus measuring 10
leagues from one edge to the other The
SUBMITS of Mount Dorfel are "a, 200 feet
high, while Mount Blanc rises but 1862
feet above the level of the sea-"
lit is lust wonderful that we can know
50 ilGGu dDOQt u DAautt lLiat IL 81 i1i away.
Is the moon inhabited? Was it ever in
habited?"
NO, my dear boy People could not
live there. II is believed that nothing lives
there. The soil is shattered, rocky and
bare-there is not a flower. not even blade
Of grass. Everything is wrapped in torpor
and silence. The echoes are mute. No
zephyrs play around the SUBMITS of the
mountains. The moon was once portion
of the earth"
''Oh, papaln exclaimed Charlie. That
piece of information startled him.
Astronomers tell u.s. continued the
father, that the moon was detached from
the earth. and though now cold and wan,
it was once red, blazing sphere. 1t ex-
hausted its fires during the course of a
thousand years, and now simply reflects to
us, in weird pale light. the divergent
rays of the sun. "-FfGnk II. .Stau5er IN
Child CtitiTe.